Understanding Teacher Professional Development in Social Music Projects: Experiences from the Spanish Context

This study explores how teachers working in social music projects in Spain understand their professional development and which elements they identify as central to their learning processes. Although teacher professional development (TPD) has been widely studied in formal music education contexts, less is known about how it unfolds in socially oriented and community-based settings. The study adopts a qualitative design based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with seven music teachers involved in social music projects across Spain. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis to identify recurring themes and patterns in participants’ accounts. The findings show that teachers understand professional development as an ongoing and situated process closely linked to their daily practice. Experiential learning, adaptation to uncertainty, collaboration with others, and continuous reflection emerge as key elements in their development. In addition, participants highlight the importance of expanding beyond strictly musical training to include pedagogical, social, and relational competences. These results suggest that professional development in social music projects differs from more traditional models by emphasising context, experience, and community engagement. The study contributes to current discussions on music teacher development by highlighting the need for more flexible, collaborative, and context-sensitive approaches to TPD.